Ted Turner's Gift

Maverick's Business Man Now Foremost Humanitarian

September 24, 1997

Ted Turner is not your typical billionaire. For one thing, he's married to Jane Fonda. He owns the Atlanta Braves, one of the most successful baseball teams of the 1990s. And, by the way, he's pledged to give $1 billion to the United Nations.

Turner's gift may be the single largest charitable donation in history. By any measure, it is an almost mind-boggling display of generosity.

Turner is a maverick, and he reinforces that reputation by choosing the United Nations to be the recipient of this gift. The world body is a favorite target of American conservatives and is in financial difficulty in part because the United States has withheld its dues because of an ongoing disagreement over how the organization operates.

The gift will be paid out $100 million a year for 10 years. Turner's plan is to establish an independent United Nations Foundation that will work with U.N. officials to decide what programs to support. The money will supplement humanitarian and development programs. None of it can be used for administration or peacekeeping activities.

Turner's early recognition of the importance of cable television and the fortune he made in broadcasting would have ensured his place in American business history. But now he stands on a truly higher level, as one of the nation's, one of the world's great humanitarians. Whether one likes or dislikes him, Turner has set a new standard in charitable giving. Perhaps the greatest value of his gift is the challenge it sets for all of us, within the range of our financial ability, to meet.